This invention relates to the general category of convertible toys.
The most pertinent prior art known to applicants is comprised of the following U.S. patents:
______________________________________ Des.278,643 4,571,201 Des.279,591 4,571,203 Des.279,592 4,575,348 Des.284,948 4,575,352 Des.291,973 4,578,046 Des.295,994 4,580,993 3,878,639 4,581,904 4,095,367 4,586,911 4,170,840 4,594,071 4,391,060 4,599,078 4,411,097 4,605,383 4,456,384 4,606,618 4,505,686 4,623,317 4,516,948 4,666,042 4,530,670 4,668,205 4,543,073 4,673,373 4,561,184 4,680,018 4,571,199 ______________________________________
The basic difference between these prior art patents and the present invention resides in the fact that in the prior art one toy is itself changed into another toy, whereas in the present invention there are two toys, that is, an outer toy and an inner toy built into the outer toy. In this invention, each toy retains its own identity except that the outer toy must be opened up to expose the inner toy. The outer toy is operable only when closed; the inner toy is operable only when the outer toy is opened.
To illustrate the prior art, Des. 295,994 shows a "Reconfigurable Toy Aircraft-Carrier" which is transformable into an airplane and/or a robot. One of the embodiments of the present invention is a simulated canteen which contains a built-in aircraft carrier. It is necessary to open up the canteen in order to expose the aircraft carrier but this does not "reconfigure" the canteen. The configuration of the canteen is retained except that it is opened to expose the aircraft carrier.
There is another important difference between the present invention and the prior art: in the present invention, unlike the prior art, the outer article is of generally normal size for that type of article, whereas the inner toy is of miniature size. Thus, in the above illustration, the outer article is a canteen and the inner toy that is built into it is an aircraft carrier.